
Flood Alleviation Scheme – Official Update
The Environment Agency, keen that we should be thoroughly well-
informed, have sent us this up-date: As many of you will be aware, the
Oxford Flood Alleviation Scheme aims to reduce flood risk to properties
across the city, from Botley Road at the top end of the scheme, down to
Old Abingdon Road (by Redbridge) at the bottom end of the scheme. It
also has several other benefits including reducing the risk of flooding to
major transport routes in and out of the city, and protecting electricity
substations, broadband internet supply, schools and businesses.
The scheme will work by creating more space in the existing floodplain
for flood water, moving it away from the built-up areas of the city. To do
this we will create a new channel, which will consist of a narrow, deep
section of river in the middle which will always carry water, and a wider,
shallower section next to it, which will fill up during a flood. This is known
as a two-stage channel. Flood water will not move any more quickly than
it does now and flood risk downstream of the city will stay the same.
The scheme is being developed in partnership by Oxfordshire County
Council, Oxford City Council, Vale of White Horse District Council,
Thames Water, Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership, University of
Oxford, local flood group Oxford Flood Alliance, the Thames Regional
Flood and Coastal Committee, and the Environment Agency. They have
been working on it together since 2014.
We are now at the stage of finalising the design of the scheme. It’s been
a long journey to get to this point, and we have worked with landowners,
the public and individuals through various stages of the project. The route
was determined in early 2016, following consultation with landowners and
then the wider public on various technically designed and modelled
options. We needed to find a route which would reduce flood risk
effectively, which was economically viable, safe to construct, and which
minimised impact on both landowners and the wider community. We have
now settled on the route and it can be seen on the map on our
website:www.gov.uk/government/collections/reducing-flood-risk-in-
oxford-and-abingdon .
The landowners, who will obviously be most affected by the scheme,
have been heavily consulted. We have tweaked the route and altered the
design in various areas to try and suit their needs and to minimise the
impact on their land, whilst still designing an effective scheme. We will
continue to work with them to try and resolve some of the issues around